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How I fixed Cyclic Redundancy Check (On An Iomega External Hard Drive) Error

strive4impact That is Fascinating 222 Comments

———-

Cyclic Redundancy Check Check – ARGH!

How I almost lost my hard drive
and how I fixed the cyclic redundancy error

WARNING!

This is seriously geeky stuff (made simple).

If you’re not into geeky stuff, you might want to go read about how almonds saved me from the Panamanian Police.

Also, if this helps you
with your hard drive,
please consider a donation.
http://www.carrieandjonathan.com/donate

Consider yourself warned.

Let the geek-speak begin.

—–

I thought our 500 GB Iomega Hard Drive had crashed.

This is a hard drive which was sent to us by my brother and sister-in-law (when we were in New Zealand in 2010).

Since that time, this 500 GB hard drive become filled with tens of thousands of pictures, videos we’ve created from our various travels, and a whole bunch of marketing related stuff for our online work.

I thought the drive was done for (i.e. crashed forever) tonight.

However, after

  • LOTS of reading
  • 2 hours of kicking things around in frustration (only sort of kidding)
  • and a random suggestion within DOS

I got this drive repaired and the data back.

WHOO-HOO!

This post is for anyone else who might be experiencing the same Cyclic Redundancy Check

Here’s what I did to fix the Data Error: Cyclic Redundancy Check

Start –> opened a command prompt
(I typed CMD into the search feature in Windows 7, but depending on your version of Windows, you’ll have to look up how to do this.)

Got the desired DOS black screen with c:UsersJonathan

I ran checkdisk on the drive.

I did that by typing chkdsk g:

So the whole line looked like this:
C:UsersJonathan>chkdsk g:

(Your drive may have a different letter).

Running checkdisk took a few minutes to check the disk.

Then I read through the results of the checkdisk.

This message was in there.

“The volume Bitmap is incorrect.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.”

So, I ran this:

C:UsersJonathan>chkdsk g: /F

It took a few minutes, but the drive came back up, and I now no longer have the “Cyclic Redundancy Check” error message.

Here’s a screenshot of the DOS prompts.

A screenshot of the CMD prompt for the cyclical redundancy error fix

I can access all of the files on my Iomega Drive.

And I’ve now moved the files onto a different drive (just in case).

Hope this works for you if you are also having a “Data Error: Cyclical Redundancy Check” challenge.

(If it works and saves you time and frustration, I would love to have your comment below.)

Also, if this helps you
with your hard drive,
please consider a donation.
http://www.carrieandjonathan.com/donate

Did this work
for your hard
drive?

You can
any amount

(up to you)
Thank-you!

, , , , ,

222 thoughts on “How I fixed Cyclic Redundancy Check (On An Iomega External Hard Drive) Error”

  1. Furqan Arrasyid

    thanks dude.. awesome…!!

    surely getting this CRC error message while trying to access my external hdd. i was able to figure out wat it means, but not sure how to fix….
    then … i met u … ^_^

    Reply
  2. Team fifty

    Now i am able to access my hard drive after following the above steps…
    Thanks a lot for your help.
    You are Indeed a real Hero dude 🙂

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome. It sounds like you were having the same kind of freak out moment as I was, thinking I had lost everything on my hard drive. Glad you checked google for a fix, and glad my fix has been here to help you!

      Reply
      1. Team fifty

        Yes.dude.as you mentioned above (2 hours of kicking things around in frustration)i was doing the same thing:-)
        then i read your blog

        awesome way of fixing with Command prompt.Please do experiment a lot and keep up the good work boss 🙂

        you indeed saved thousands of dollars of money of people like us…
        we owe you man:)

        Reply
          2. strive4impact Post author

            Plenty of people have helped me. I’m happy to be of service and happy that your hard drive files are back! I may put a donate button here tomorrow… but really just happy to help. I know how frustrating it is to lose hard drives and data.

          4. Jason

            Great info guys. However, my issue is a little more complex, Have a second hard drive that windows will no longer show. Tried to initialize drive in disk management and that is when I get the CRC error. How do I run check disk on this hard drive to fix this issue. Would really appreciate some help as I have a lot of photos on this drive that I do not have backed up.

          5. strive4impact Post author

            Unfortunately, I don’t know without actually looking at the drive. Lots of reasons that might be happening… Do you have a computer repair person locally who has been highly recommended (you could check AngiesList)…

  3. Ryan Smyth

    I never post or reply to these kind of things but credit where credit is due your simple fix has allowed me to access 600gb of films I thought were lost. Tip of the hat to you sir.

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Ryan, I very much appreciate your tip of the hat, and thank-you for letting me know that this fixed your hard drive as well. Would have been frustrating to lose that data, so I’m glad you were able to get your cyclic redundancy fixed… 🙂

      Reply
      1. Interociter Operator

        If you EVER get this CRC error message, it could well be your hard drives last warning to backup your files to another hard drive.
        Run the
        CHKDSK /F /R
        …command and then IMMEDIATELY backup your data to another drive. You may find not all the files are recoverable.

        I thought I had fixed my drive. The next day it was stone cold dead.

        Reply
        1. strive4impact Post author

          Yes. I definitely recommend to get all your files off the drive as soon as you run this check. The drive can be considered as good as a piece of burnt toast once it’s had this CRC error. The specific drive that I was speaking about in this video, once I got all the files off of it, I pounded it into pieces with a hammer (Always a good idea before disposing of a bad hard drive), and threw it in the trash.

          Reply
  4. nicole

    thanks! it worked! :))))))))))))) i was hopeless. i have read that from the command prompt itself but did chkdsk/f :h and it showed that it was fixed yet still having the same error. reading what you did, i said to myself it was the same. but i noticed my syntax was wrong and followed yours and yey! hahaha.

    Reply
  6. Mark

    Unfortunately for me this didnt work. it starts to run the ‘verifying Usn Journal’ then bombs out with the CRC check message. so looks like i have lost everything on my drive. its still under warrancy but that deoesnt help me much. Thanks anyway for your help

    Reply
  7. Lands

    I cannot thank you enough for this little tutorial. I have a 250gb external harddrive that is loaded with wedding pictures, kids birthday parties pics, resumes, tax returns and anything else deemed important. 3 weeks ago it refused to be accessed from my computer. When I tell you I tried dozens of solutions, I means dozens (Anyone want to buy a lightly used, spam filled disk recovery utility?).
    Anyway, your process was a life saver. It took over an hour to complete but worked flawlessly. Thank you soooooo much for sharing.

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome and I’m glad it came in handy. The things we save on our computers now are our most precious memories, our entertainment, and our most important files. Someone telling you to backup early and often, after the fact, is not exactly helpful. I’m glad that you got this fixed on your hard drive. What brought you to this post on our site (Google search or…?)

      Reply
      1. Fatima

        when i type chkdsk J i got this error “access Denined , you dont have
        sufficient privileges. You have to Invoke this utility running in elevated mode.
        plz tell me what i have to do?

        Reply
  9. Hayley

    I am having the same problem with my computer (windows 7) and my external hard drive. Initially my computer was telling me to reformat the drive which I didnt do as it warned me that I would lose all my data. Now it wont even recognise the drive and when I have followed your instructions after typing chkdsk g: the response is: cannot open volume for direct access. Nooooo its all my uni work! Have you any ideas? 🙁

    Reply
      1. everdreaded

        THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS. All those so called MICROSOFT EXPERTS on the home site and they know TI TI! You are an ELITE!

        Reply
    2. Gilles

      Hi Hayley, hi Jonathan.

      I got the same problem with my Iomega 1TB external drive.
      I use a desktop with XP and a laptop with Windows 7.
      Drive works well on my Samsung TV but my XP ask to reformat and my Windows 7 sends a cyclic redundancy error message.
      I must say that for the first 6 months, everything was working well and suddendly, with no warnings, the drive became unreadable by my two computers. Under Windows XP, my external disk (k:) property is shown as being RAW with no used space and no free space.

      At the DOS prompt, after entering the CHKDSK k: /F command, my two computers give me the same response as Hayley: cannot open volume for direct access, thus preventing any command execution on the disk.

      Continuing my research accross the WEB and will post if I find something.

      Have a nice day!

      Gilles

      Reply
      1. Will350

        This happened to me as well. -Full disclosure- I have Windows 7 the external HD is a WD 2Tb w/ UBS plug and this is the second time I got a CRC error. I think I put too many files on it and I recently had a unplanned computer shutdown. I think the shutdown was the last straw for this recent CRC error. After running the chkdsk it went thru 8960 files (which sounds about right) I couldn’t access my files. The error is ‘N: Not Accessible’.

        I’m going thru chkdsk a second time (so far I still see 8960 files – probably a good sign that my files are still retrievalable) fingers crossed.

        Do you know what can be done or is my data lost forever?

        Reply
  11. DrTirth

    Thank you so much!
    I got my 1 tb seagate recovered!
    8kb of bad sector caused this trouble!
    The hdd was moved accidently while copying!
    You are awesome!
    God bless you 1 tb times!(trillion!)

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome! I’m glad this helped you! Now… get the files off of your hard drive as it’s likely that drive is soon to be toast. Really… I’d recommend a full backup ASAP.

      Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome! Glad it helped you to get your hard drive’s files back. I’d recommend moving the files off of that hard drive and getting a new one. Do you think you’ll do that?

      Reply
  13. Daniel

    Hello but i am having a problem trying to install a game as soon as its installing in the middle it stops and it shows the crc error 🙁 idk? what went wrong but i tried your steps but it still doesnt work? please help

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hey Peter,

      I’m glad to be of service and that this helped you. If you feel like buying me a coffee or a beer to say thanks, I do accept tips to my PayPal account jkraft [at] strive4impact.com. Glad you have the data from your hard drive.

      Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hey Sunny, You are so very welcome. I’m glad your hard drive is fixed. Now I would recommend to move ALL of those files off of your hard drive as soon as possible. That hard drive can fail at any time… so I’d get a new hard drive and backup all of the files that are on there as well.

      Reply
  16. Sufyan

    Hi,

    My iPod classic is having the same problem. iTunes doesn’t recognise it at all, but it shows up in Computer(Win7). And when I try to open it, Windows prompts me to format is before I can use it. If I try to format, “Windows is unable to format” message appears. If I choose not to, “Cyclical Redundancy Check” error appears. I tried your method using command prompt, but I’m unable to do so as it states “CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives”

    Please help.
    Thank You!

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hi Sufyan,
      I don’t know how to fix this, but I would do a Google search for CHKDSK for RAW drive and see if that helps you fix your iPod. I would also take your iPod to the Apple store and see if they know how to get the Cyclic Redundancy Check error off of your iPod.

      Reply
  17. Kirito

    Guys! there is a file that had the cyclic redundancy error, i switched of the pc and next time i turned it on to try open file, THE ERROR SPREADED TO OTHER WINRAR FILES? HELP? WUT DO?

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      CRC applies to the drive. It’s the whole drive that’s having the cyclic redundancy error. Fix it for the drive, move the files off (back them up), and then get a new hard drive.

      That would be my recommendation anyway…

      Reply
  18. Miguel

    i’m doing the chkdsk on cmd and is stuck at stage 2 of 3 for 40min now.. it’s a 750gb iomega almost full (maybe 12gb free space) is that normal or may it crached somewhere? thaks for the advise!

    Reply
  19. Lyne

    Fantastic! I was finally able to access my 1Tb Iomega HDD with over 750Gb of data with your help. Thank you so much. Now I have to transfer the most important data to another HDD.

    Reply
  20. Kellie

    i umm don’t even know if this is the exact problem im having… im only 16 and I have always love sims games… you may know them…

    Well I have been having this error pop up every time I try and install the base game it says cyclic redundancy check error so after the download never finishes… if you might could help that would be great…

    ~Kellie

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hi Kellie,

      I’m sorry, but pretty much all I know about cyclic redundancy errors is contained in this post. Maybe some of the other tips posted here can help you?

      Reply
  21. Jeremie

    Thanks for the info – mine ran in read-only mode, which wouldn’t allow it to fix errors. So I had to type “chkdsk f: /v /f”. Actually, I had to run it twice, which took some time, but after the second run, it worked. Thanks for the resource.

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome Casey! Thank you for commenting. Anything you’ve read in the process that might be helpful for someone else wanting to get their hard drive back?

      Reply
  23. shahan

    in my case when chkdsk g: reaches to 74 percent it stops with following result..

    Error found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

    plese help he what should i do..??

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome! As I’ve recommended to others… you will want to remove your information from that hard drive and get a new hard drive. There is a good possibility that hard drive is done or close to being done.

      Reply
  25. Thy

    Thank you so very much! My external hard drive suddenly had a cyclic redundancy warning after I tried to access it and I completely panicked since it had files I needed for a lab report to be printed from there (due tomorrow morning of course). Following your steps I managed to fix the drive and my files are backing up as I type this. You’re an absolute lifesaver!

    Reply
  26. aichan

    it works great!!! thanks for your help… i couldn’t imagine i’ve to lose all the memories behind those pictures of my loving one… i’ve tried a thousand way, i even tried to recover all the data and i’m going to format back the hard disk… but thanks to u, i got back all my data… thanks a lot…

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hi Aichan,

      I’m glad you got your data back and good to hear you’ll be replacing/reformatting the hard drive. I would recommend tossing the hard drive and buying a new one as that hard drive is now going to be unpredictable.

      Glad this was helpful for you!

      Reply
  27. conanwong

    after fruitless attempts of trying different softwares fixes and etc. not to my likings, i decided to check youtube for the heck of it. there i discovered your little video and this here site. of course i google search the problem but wikihow’s article wasn’t helpful enough. but thanks to your clear cut explanation, i’m in the process of hoping that everything will be fixed.

    quick question though how long would it take to fix a 1TB external portable drive?

    Reply
  28. Radostin

    Hey, man!

    Its good that you’ve helped so much people, though I still have the problem discribed above. When I type this a message saying “Cannot open volume for direct access” appear. Do you have any suggestions ? Thanks in advance 😉

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hi Radostin,

      Unfortunately I don’t think I can help with this further. Maybe someone else can help recover your hard drive, but I’ve shared what I know in the article here.

      Thank you,
      Jonathan

      Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hi Mazza,

      Thank you for commenting to let me know! I’m glad this helped you fix your CRC Error. I would get the data off of that drive ASAP. Your hard drive is probably as good as burned toast.

      Reply
  31. Nicholas Harper

    Hi there

    I have the exact problem that you are describing. However when I do the chkdsk g: command, it tells me “cannot open volume for direct access” Is there anyway around this issue.

    Reply
  33. Aber

    I have this SD card that has 16 gb of memory that is brand new. Though it lets me access its contents, it won’t let me copy files to it. Have any ideas?

    Reply
  35. Roger Fester

    G/day GUYS,I have been battling with my ‘CRC’ problem for weeks,as soon as I try to do a ‘chkdsk’,it say’s that it can’t because drive is now ‘RAW’,PLEASE,HOW CAN I FIX THIS.
    MANY THANX IN ADVANCE…..

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Hi Roger,

      Unfortunately, I don’t know how to run a chkdsk on a drive that is showing as a RAW drive. Maybe someone else posting here can help. Sorry… hope you get your hard drive back!

      Reply
  37. CameoH

    Hello…I tried your fix and also got the ‘RAW’ message also. I read the last comment but was wondering if maybe you happened upon a solution since then??? Thanks:)

    Reply
  38. deepak

    hello..

    i have the same problem, tried the chkdsk /f but it says some folder are entirely unreadable. plese help………..all my lifetime data will be lost

    Reply
  39. Jerry TILLEY

    Just want to add my thanks to the list as well. Very clear instructions, and it helped to get my hard drive back again. Good screenshots too, so thanks for posting and thanks for your help.

    JT

    Reply
  40. Andraih Alaraj

    can you help me with that please the errors couldn’t have been corrected, so if you have another solution please help out with that..
    Thank you..

    Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
    Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    C:Usersuser>chkdsk e:
    Cannot open volume for direct access.

    C:Usersuser>chkdsk g:
    Cannot open volume for direct access.

    C:Usersuser>chkdsk e:
    The type of the file system is UDF.
    Space Bitmap Descriptor at block 0 is corrupt or unreadable.
    Volume Sims3 is UDF version 1.02.

    CHKDSK is verifying ICBs …
    ICB verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying ICB links …
    ICB link verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying link counts and parent entries …
    Link count and parent entry verification completed.
    CHKDSK is checking system files.
    CHKDSK is checking the directory tree for cycles.
    CHKDSK is identifying lost files.
    Lost file identification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying object size for ICBs with alternate data streams …
    ICB object size verification completed.

    Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

    C:Usersuser>chkdsk e: /f
    The type of the file system is UDF.
    Space Bitmap Descriptor at block 0 is corrupt or unreadable.
    Volume Sims3 is UDF version 1.02.

    CHKDSK is verifying ICBs …
    ICB verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying ICB links …
    ICB link verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying link counts and parent entries …
    Link count and parent entry verification completed.
    CHKDSK is checking system files.
    CHKDSK is checking the directory tree for cycles.
    CHKDSK is identifying lost files.
    Lost file identification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying object size for ICBs with alternate data streams …
    ICB object size verification completed.
    Windows found problems with the file system that could not be corrected.

    C:Usersuser>^A

    Reply
  43. Krista

    I did the CHKDSK thing on my drive D, but it says there’s no problem in my drive when in fact, I’m still experiencing the crc error. Also, I can’t move my files from drive D to any other hard disks and it’s starting to get on my nerves because we have a lot of family pictures in it and I’m scared that I won’t be able to salvage them anymore.

    How can I fix it if cmd can’t find the problems? What do you suggest?

    Reply
  45. Niel

    If chkdsk g: /F didn’t work. Try chkdsk g: /r . /r also repairs bad sectors and recovers readable information.

    This one worked for me. Good luck guys.

    Thank you, TS!
    cheers!

    Reply
  47. Mahen

    My 500gb seagate crashed in my desktop and I was accessing this hardisk on my laptop through a sata/ide to usb2.0 adapter when I accidently switched off power to the adapter in the middle of file transfer and my drive letter E showed no data. After going through this site I tried chkdsk E: /F in the command prompt and when finished running the command all the contents of E drive got restored.Thanks a lot carrieandjonathan. You are great people.

    Mahen

    Reply
  48. christine

    Just to let you know this is a common fix for a lot of disk errors, but you shouldn’t rely on the drive after getting your data back.

    Immediately move the data off the drive onto a working on, as the error you see is the result of bad sectors and the drive is failing.

    🙂

    Reply
  50. Herbert

    Sir,

    Please help me about my HP v220w 16gb USB. i follow what you told in this blog but its not working for me. im still getting error message in CMD with CRC. and it is still write protect. how can i remove a write protect USB.

    1. while in chkdsk it says
    C:Documents and SettingsName>chkdsk d: /f
    the type of the file is NTFS.
    windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected

    please guys help me.

    Reply
  52. Fatima

    when i type chkdsk J i got this error “access Denined , you dont have
    sufficient privileges. You have to Invoke this utility running in elevated mode.
    plz tell me what i have to do?

    Reply
  53. esther

    Thank you very very much. it worked… and i was stuck almost crying that I had lost so many good files…. be blessed!

    Reply
  54. Kamlesh

    Hi Mark

    Too late a message for you, but it may help someone else…

    ‘verifying Usn Journal’ will not have any impact if you run chkdsk for a second time since all bad sectors gone already in the first run. It worked for me!

    Thanks a Lot CarrieJona

    Reply
  55. Matt B.

    Thank you so much! My Iomega was starting to die on me (started with the redundancy check) so I actually bought a new external HD to transfer the files, but once I started the long process it got to the point where I couldn’t even open up any folders on the external HD. My computer would also go at a snails pace when the hard drive was plugged in.

    I haven’t read many other comments on here so I’m not sure if this has been posted or not yet, but when I first tried to fix the drive it said I didn’t have permission. So, when I did the ‘cmd’ search I right clicked after typing ‘cmd’ and went to ‘run as admin’, and that solved the issue.

    Thanks again for your post, it was very simple and very easy to follow.

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Super excited to hear it and glad you got your hard drive back! Make sure to remove the data to a newer, more safer drive. The drive you had been using is now as good as done.

      Reply
  58. OLAJIDE

    this just worked for me with my 160G hard disk after series of trial to recover it from disk failure. i really appreciate your post. thank you.

    Reply
  60. ahmed

    i am having a problem
    chkdsk is verifying files but there are 50432 files in hard drive and its going through each file only 100 files have been checked till now, am i doing it right, or it does takes alot of time. Moreover, i am getting a message on each file i.e, e.g
    file record segment 101 is unreadable.

    Reply
  61. Dankon

    plss hepl me
    today when i connected my external hdd ( wd 500Gb) to my PC start to show me to format hdd.
    I ceck on the internet but nothing…
    i try your metod…

    C:UserUser>chkdsk f: F
    C:UserUser>chkdsk f: /r

    but same results…

    Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted.

    PLSSS HELP ME!!

    thank you if u understand…

    Reply
  62. Annette

    While scanning it said “An unspecified error occurred.

    Can u help me? It was only 10% completed (2 of 5)

    Thanks
    Annette

    Reply
  64. Sheikh

    Thanks for your page. I tried this but receive the message ‘The type of the file system is raw. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives’.

    I have been using this drive and recently it came up with the CRC error.

    Reply
  66. nikhil

    I am having the same problem with my 1tb seggate backup plus external harddrive. I ran cmd and typed the same command replacing the ‘g’ with ‘h’. Mine ext drive shows h. But cmd is showing a error ” the type of file system is raw.chkdsk is not available for raw drives.”

    Reply
  67. Smokey Melbourne

    Thank you so much for the advice!!! Worked perfectly on my Seagate drive, and I was able to recover most of the docs, etc. Already have a new HDD in the laptop, and am rebuilding!! Many thanks!!

    Reply
  69. rothwellpa

    getting the CRC error but computer does not show drive letter…it will not assign a letter. Not sure how to proceed without drive letter

    Reply
    1. Sahir

      Right Click on MY COMPUTER
      Select MANAGE
      Click STORAGE (DISK MANAGEMENT)
      Select your Drive
      Right Click on your Drive
      select CHANGE DRIVE LETTER
      Click ADD
      give any Drive Letter
      then it will show the Drive on My Computer

      Reply
      1. iniya

        but doesnt able to assign letter.. if i try to assign letter or try to create partition.. that error(data error (crc)) occurs. what can i do??

        Reply
  70. Travis Heberling

    Can anyone help me out!?

    I am trying the Command Prompt and when I type in the disc I get (The type of the file system is RAW.
    CHKDSK is not avaialbe for RAW drives.

    Thanks,

    Reply
    2. Sal M.

      I get the same response as Travis. It says: “The type of file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.” It is actually NTFS. Any ideas? Thanks!

      Reply
  72. Jessica

    OMG thank you so much. I was worried because it said the Type of the File system is NTFS and then it said it could not continue in read-mode but after doing the Fix, it worked. Thank you for the post!

    Reply
  73. Pushpender SIngh Bais

    Dear All,
    I have Transcend 1 TB external Hard drive, now showing cyclic redundancy check and while i am running Chkdsk showing Raw Drive….Pls helm me i have very important data in that drive.

    Reply
  75. munish

    Hi I am from Chandigarh ,India.
    I got the same issue & cannot afford to lose all the classic movies & documnentaries of around 600gb.Solution given worked 5th time I ran the command.
    Thank you so much.

    Reply
  76. cez

    help pls..
    i have a HDD and i put it into a rack because i have to copy some data of it in order to reinstal windows on it( hdd has only one partition) i have copy some data but now the HDD is not present in my computer or in bios.. when i enter disk management i have Disk 1 ” not initialized” and when i click intial..have a error Cyclic Redundancy Check.
    i have put the HDD in a rack and conected by usb to my laptop but when i tried to type “chkdsk g:”( i have letters from c to j) and only C and D works but partitioan C: and D: are from my laptop…what can i do?? please help me!!!

    Reply
  77. NikhilKumar

    Thanks a lot for posting the above help. It saved my time and got back my data. Hope you write more blogs as such to help people.

    Thanks,

    Reply
  80. M

    Life saver, though got ‘The second NTFS boot sector is unwritable’ for mine at the end. Can access the drive again in any case so huge thanks.

    Reply
  81. Lightis Sunite

    I ran chkdsk and when it was finished scanning, it said that there were no issues, and I keep getting said error when I try extracting ANYTHING past 20%!!

    Reply
  82. Pooja

    Hi,
    I got the same problem and run the given command but after 1 hr it gives “insufficient disk space to fix volume bitmap. CHKDSK aborted”.

    pls help me.

    Reply
  83. Jeeva

    Hi,

    Thanks for the Information. I got the same problem in my “D Drive” i.e my windows drive.. I have used repair option and opened the cmd, and i tried ur method to check.. I have got 40kb badsector in my D: Drive.. i tried to fix the issue by chkdsk d:/F but it failed to remove the bad sector.. any other option for this or i need to use some hirens boot cd to wipe all the data. bcoz i couldn’t install a new OS now.?

    Kindly support me to rectify this issue..!

    Reply
  84. Anuja

    Hi,my new seagate external hardware is showing below errors when i ran chkdsk..
    The type of the file system is NTFS
    Unable to determine volume version amd state. CHKDSK aborted
    Can someone pls help me

    Reply
  85. Kit

    Thank you for posting! It was a great help! I thought I wouldnt be able to retrieve my files back! Such a big help! Can now breathe normally. HAHA. Thank you for posting as well as helping others too with this kind of problem!

    Reply
  87. Jackie

    I have run a “chkdsk d:” scan multiple times, and I get various messages:
    WARNING! F parameter not specified.
    Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.
    Read-only chkdsk found bad on-disk uppercase table – using system table.

    Then in Stage 1:
    “File record segment _ is unreadable”. With a number in place of the _. There are multiple segments numbers given, but not all consecutive.

    Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed. Thanks!

    Reply
  89. karrie

    Thank you so much for this. This saved my drive that had all of my daughter’s baby pictures on it. My heart can now drop out of my throat. Thank you so much for the information!!!!!!!

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are very welcome. I would consider a hard drive that has had a CRC error as good as dead. I would really recommend purchasing another hard drive ASAP, and moving over your files as soon as possible. Here’s a link to a good 250 GB Hard Drive on Amazon:
      http://www.carrieandjonathan.com/ssd-drive
      and if you feel so inclined, here’s a link where you can donate whatever you like:
      http://www.carrieandjonathan.com/donate

      Glad this helped you save the pictures on your drive!

      Reply
  90. Karan

    Hi,
    I tried to fix the issue with chkdsk F: /F
    But still when i try open the drive, it gives the same error of Cyclic Redundancy.
    Is there any way I can retrieve the data?
    Please Help.

    Regards.

    Reply
  91. Alice

    My issue was on my external hard drive (FYI). It is a Seagate; less than 2 years old. Your instructions worked! You basically saved my life. All pictures, work files, personal files, etc. backed up on it. Will be purchasing a new one this week. In the meantime, I hope when I do the transfer I can still access those files. Will be donating in the near future; thank you!

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      Alice, I didn’t imagine that such a generous contribution would arrive in my inbox, even though I know how valuable this information is. Thank you for your generous donation, and I’m glad this advice helped you recover your files!

      Reply
  93. Lindsay

    I really don’t know what happened to my external. I ran the check and got the “Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

    HELP! I can’t reformat, There is too many important and non replaceable files on there.

    Reply
    1. August Pitt

      Keep going! I decided to keep going with the next step anyway (CHKDSK [DRIVE]:/F). Ran into ANOTHER problem after Stage 2. The scan stopped again but this time with “An unexpected error occurred” message. Even with that, I looked at My Computer and noticed that it was reading my external hard drive again. I prayed, crossed my fingers, and VOILA! My files were there. Try it again… you may still be able to recover your stuff.

      Reply
  98. Zsolt

    I got desperate about Iomega external HDD not responding at all and wrote CRC error. It has a lot of picture and video files from 1996 to nowadays, and I haven’t made any copy of its content. Your advice above rescued my drive and my memories! Thank you!

    Reply
  99. August Pitt

    After getting the dreaded CRC error yesterday, I went to Best Buy and was totally devastated at the idea of losing all my data and pictures! They told me that my external hard drive was likely having some partition issues and would have to be sent out to see if anything could be saved… AND depending on the level of damage, it would cost a significant amount with no promise of how data could be recovered… I sat in my car afterward and cried… but then I went home and found YOU… in a non-techy travel blog, of all places. ******THANK YOU!!!!!****** In a few simple steps, I was able to save my files!!!! A few of them were not salvageable, but I was able to recover everything that was important to me. I am DEFINITELY giving a donation. I can’t thank you enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  100. Peter

    …Jonathan you are a dead set legend my friend!… … I had so much riding on this working because I would’ve lost all my artwork/family photos/personal projects etc… many many hours of work to be lost… I thank you so much for posting this solution… I have managed to copy all of this work onto another drive because of this post… I can’t thank you enough my friend… cheers.

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You are so welcome Peter! I hope that you enjoy a great day and I’m glad to hear that you’re following my advice and moving all of the information off of the drive.

      Thanks for the compliment and the thank you.

      Reply
  102. Donnie

    Thanks for this valuable tip Jonathan. I am having Samsung 640 GB HDD. I had to do the checks twice.
    First one was a failure. Then I realised that the data cable supplied with this hard disk was not good one and had always issues.
    Changed the data cable (I used the cable of Canon digital camera) and gave another go. This time I felt tests were going smooth and fast until a message popped up “Usn Journal verification completed” and the cursor kept blinking. My computer was not giving any feedback. I thought its all over. I kept it like that overnight (also turned off other apps, Internet, etc) and next day morning when I woke up, voila, the Autoplay window of hard disk on screen!
    I would like to say others that it may take hours to complete the tests but don’t lose hope and they are worth the wait.
    Anyways, big thanks and best wishes!

    Reply
  103. Graham Alan Johns

    After hours of banging my head against a brick wall I found this post and tried it, and hey presto it worked. Only took half an hour and will be eternally grateful.

    Reply
  105. Bethina Befetel

    Hi. I’m starting to feel hopeless. No. I feel hopeless. I tried what you said, but, it only said Errors Found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.

    Reply
  106. ervan

    sir I just wanna ask, I have this problem just this night, and i tend to write your tutorial in my command prompt, but after i read the comment section, it says our hard disk (external) cannot be used again? So if I repaired the CRC, but my hard disk can’t be crash in the future?
    could you explain what CRC is, and why does it happen?

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      I don’t really know why cyclic redundancy happens or what it is.

      I would just recommend getting a new hard drive. You can do what you want, but with hard drives being so cheap for massive amounts of storage, it doesn’t make sense to chance it with a drive that already said it’s bad.

      Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      I’m sorry not to be of more help. What I know about resolving this issue is included in the post. If you figure it out, please let me know so that I can post the answer here for everyone.

      Reply
  108. dj

    Hey! Firstly, thank you so much for the help!
    However, I’m stuck, the comman prompt screen is on ‘CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal…’ and has been on that for an inordinately long time.
    How long do you think it’s meant to take? It’s been around a little more than an hour? Is it normally supposed to take long at that certain point?
    I really need major help because this rust bucket of a hard drive has my entire life on it and all the other forums for aid have nothing to say except some variation of ‘i told you so’ / ‘you wouldn’t have this problem if you’d already backed up your crappy hard drive’ AND???? REALLY??? I KNOW WHAT I DIDN’T DO CORRECTLY! I KNOW HOW I MESSED UP! GIVE ME SOLUTIONS GUYS!!!!

    So this is the first post I’ve seen that’s actually helpful. So, thank you, however – any insight on the usn journal issue i mentioned? Or will it clear itself up in a day or two? Do I just need to be patient? How patient? THANK YOU!

    Reply
  109. John

    Question.

    I have LaCie 4TB drive that windows tries to initialize, and when that is started
    ‘Data Error (cyclic redundancy check error)’
    is prompted.

    How can I run checkdisk as there is no drive letter assigned. All what is shown on
    DIsk Management is that it is Drive 1 with only 9GB used while this is supposed to
    be a 4TB external drive.

    Thank you. Nick

    Reply
  110. Theresa Soehnge

    It doesn’t let me run the chkdsk because it say it’s RAW. Is there anything else I can do?

    Reply
  112. Marsha

    Thank you Thank you Thank you! All of my files and workspaces were on this drive and I was having a meltdown thinking the drive crashed.

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You’re welcome! Technically, the drive did crash. I’d recommend getting a new hard drive and moving all of your files off of this old one (and then smashing the old one with a hammer to make sure the data isn’t accessible anymore).

      Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      You’re very welcome! I’d replace your hard drive now as it’s more likely to crash in the future.

      Reply
  114. Jim1991

    hi, I can’t seem to fix my western digital drive witch is 750GB witch was in my dell inspiron 1750. it was working fine all day until at night it just suddenly showed up a blue screen of death appeared on the screen. then went onto a black screen trying to go into lan boot part and after that said no bootable device found processors will be disabled. or no bootable sector found. even ran chkdsk tried the diskpart in cmd in run as admin. and also tried the chkdsk /F. in explorer using a caddy case say’s cycle redundancy check access is denied. don’t know on what to do next of to fix my drive. even tried EasyUs and Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery but still no joy. hope there is another way.

    Reply
  115. Sushant

    Hi, I read your CRC blog. It is very useful. I have a same problem but I am unable to run chkdsk. message shows. — /F is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
    Please help..

    Reply
  116. Rifqi Ramdhani

    Sorry sir, i have not try with chkdsk, because i dont know what driver letter on my HDD, and my hdd doesnt appear on explorer. i checked on disk management, it shows me “unallocated” so i try to create new partition, but it greyed text, so i cant click any create new partition.
    how to know what drive letter my secondary hdd?
    sorry i have bad english grammar 😀

    Reply
    1. strive4impact Post author

      I wouldn’t create partitions or do anything with the drive until you can get a letter assigned to it. I’m not sure what to tell you about getting a letter assigned to it as I’ve put about as much as I know about fixing CRC into this blog post. I would recommend finding someone local who’s really good with computers and see if they can get this hard drive fixed for you. Sorry not to be of more help.

      Reply
  118. Joel Young

    Perfect fix for me! (feel bad for those it didn’t work for). Followed your instructions and everything works great now. Still gonna back everything up to a different drive now, though, since it looks like this ancient one might be on its way out. Thanks for posting this fix!

    Reply
  119. Steve

    My PC HDD cant detect a drive. Not able to see the HDD drive letter from Disk Management. Dismantel the HDD and connect using Usb to another PC also cant detect. Please help

    Reply

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